DECLARED SERVICES

Price Regulation
>Prices & Productivity

ICCC regulates and monitors only the goods and services that are declared by the Minster for Treasury. These declarations are made under Sections 10 and 32A of the Prices Regulation Act.

Currently, the Commission provides regulatory oversight for the following services:

1. PMV & Taxi Fares

The ICCC sets the maximum fares for all licensed PMV routes in the country, both the urban and non-urban PMV routes. It also set the taxi fares, especially in centres where taxi services are provided. Currently, taxi services are only provided in Port Moresby, Lae, Mt. Hagen, Kokopo, and Alotau. The regulatory period for PMV & Taxi is set for five years, and taxi fares are adjusted annually. The main factors used by the ICCC to annually adjust the maximum fares are fuel prices and the Consumer Price Index (CPI)

2. Petroleum Products (Petrol, Diesel, & Kerosene)

The 1997 Napa Napa Project Agreement between the State and InterOil sets the platform for the downstream Petroleum Industry in the country. The ICCC only administers the section of the Project Agreement that concerns the supply and pricing of petroleum products, particularly Petrol, Diesel, and Kerosene (Jet A1). The ICCC independently verifies the Import Parity Prices (IPPs) supplied by InterOil (now Puma Energy) every month to calculate the Maximum Indicative Retail Prices (IRP) for these petroleum products. The ICCC also monitors the quarterly domestic road and sea freights to determine the area-specific retail prices for the declared refined fuel products.

3. Water & Sewerage

Under the current price regulatory arrangement for Water & Sewerage services, the ICCC uses a price-cap approach by determining the Maximum Average Prices (MAPs) for water and sewerage services supplied by Water PNG Limited. This arrangement provides some flexibility for the water utility to decide its bands and tariffs, but within the parameter that the entity’s volume-weighted average prices for all its tariffs must not exceed the ICCC-approved MAPs. This regulatory arrangement commenced in January 2023 and will be reviewed in January 2027, in light of its expiry in December 2027.

4. Stevedoring & Handling

In the previous regulatory period (2009-2013), the ICCC was monitoring the stevedoring and handling charges against the quarterly movements in the retail diesel prices for Lae, and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Under this arrangement, the licensed stevedoring companies operating in the declared Ports within PNG submit to the ICCC quarterly their stevedoring and handling charges. The ICCC would then observe the movements in these charges against certain benchmark prices. If there is some form of divergence between the prices, the ICCC would seek clarifications from these Stevedoring companies and if the ICCC is not satisfied, the ICCC may propose to the Minister for Treasury to declare the service for Direct Price Control. This monitoring arrangement was discontinued during the 2013 Review due to some contentious and related issues that were before the court, however, the Ministerial Declaration made under the Prices Regulation Act was and is still in effect to date. The ICCC is undertaking a pricing review into the Stevedoring and Handling services in 2023 to determine if some form of regulation needs to be applied from 2024 onwards.